MU Faculty call to postpone press shutdown

In the face of a looming University Of Missouri Press shutdown, the campus faculty has decided to send a strong message to President Tim Wolfe: Don’t shut the publishing group down just yet.

A frustrated Faculty Council is calling on the president to postpone the closure of the UM Press pending further discussion.

That “discussion” the council is requesting is a right it says it should have had before the decision to pull the plug was made. According to several members, the administration held clandestine meetings without faculty knowledge.

That doesn’t make sense to several professors who say there is a wealth of publishing knowledge right there on campus which was never consulted. Many expressed how the lack of communication from the administration saddened and upset them.

“Once President Wolfe understands the important role of the Press and how important the Press is to a functioning university, the decision doesn’t hold up. It doesn’t make sense,” said Lois Huneycutt, a history professor and member of the Coalition to Save the University of Missouri press.

Moving forward, the council hopes to start a conversation with the administration about better communication and how to save the press.

Speer Morgan, future Press director and English professor who was scheduled to attend the meeting, was a no-show.